Life Is Meals_ A Food Lover's Book of Days - James Salter [79]
OLIVES
Olives come in many sizes and shapes, but are essentially the same fruit. When you see a vast, varied selection, the differences are largely a matter of when they were harvested—some are picked green—and how they were treated afterward.
Some of the most widely known types include:
• From Greece, not only the large, popular Kalamata, but also the Naphlion olive, dark green and cracked with a mallet to allow the brine to penetrate during curing.
• From Italy, the mild, black Gaeta, dried or brine-cured.
• From Spain, among many varieties, the green Manzanilla.
• From France, the small, dark Niçoise; the green Provençal, often marinated in herbs; and the Picholine (also grown in California), which is green and good for curing.
• From Morocco, dark, dried, and oil-cured olives.
• From California, the large Barouni, originally from Tunisia; the purple-black Mission and Sevillano; and the green Ascolano, all used mainly for pickling.
Except for those that are dried, you can pit them yourself. Smack the olive with the broad side of a large knife blade, and it will usually loosen the flesh enough to squeeze out the pit without cutting open the olive.
The olive tree itself is venerated and extremely long-lived. Its slender silver-gray leaves seem to reflect the spare land where it thrives, though in spring, vast hillsides of trees turn white with blossoms that will mature into the fruit. An olive branch in the beak of a dove was God’s sign to Noah that the flood was abating and is a sign of peace even today. The immense, gnarled olive tree growing in the Garden of Gethsemane, under which Jesus was said to have prayed the night before his crucifixion, looks as though it could be two thousand years old even if, in reality, it isn’t.
ARTICHOKES
Artichokes are flowers—buds, actually—and members of the thistle family, with stiff, pointed petals. When cooked, the base of each artichoke leaf, pulled off between the teeth, is edible, the basis for the Italian expression la politica del carciofo, which means “dealing with opponents one at a time.” Once the leaves are gone, the inedible choke is revealed, and when this is cut away, there is the most desirable part, the heart.
Boiling or steaming are the easiest methods of preparation, but there are many recipes for stuffed artichokes or for artichoke hearts. Hot or cold, the leaves are best when dipped in melted butter or vinaigrette. Mayonnaise, hollandaise, mousseline, and tartar sauce can also be used.
In selecting artichokes, choose these are are firm and heavy, with closed leaves and no discoloration at the tips. They can be kept for several days uncooked with the stem in water like flowers. After cooking they will keep for not much more than a day in the refrigerator.
CRU DES PTOLÉMÉES
The great vineyards of ancient Egypt—from which came the wine that Cleopatra served to Caesar—disappeared beneath the wave of Islam and its prohibition of alcohol until early in the 20th century when, in the area where Alexandria once existed, they were revived. Two wines they produce today, Cru des Ptolémées and Queen Cleopatra—both whites—though perhaps not quite equal to what used to be laid down in the tombs of the pharaohs, nevertheless transport you back through the ages.
DENIS PAPIN
One day, wandering the streets of Blois, city of the great feudal lords of France in the Middle Ages, we came upon the prominent statue of a man and the inscription: Denis Papin, August 22, 1647, inventor in 1679 of the marmite à pression. We had to look it up in a French dictionary: “pressure cooker.”
Three hundred years ago? It was only during World War II that the pressure cooker became widely used because it saved fuel and was able to cook food in a far shorter time while preserving its flavor